Monday, June 01, 2009

10 Game Test

Tonight the Phillies kickoff their 7 game West Coast trip against the streaky San Diego Padres. The good news for the Phils is that the Padres are a mediocre team (25-25), but the bad news is that they’re absolutely amazing at home (17-6). After 3 games in SD they venture to Los Angeles to take on the Dodgers for 4 games. The Dodgers have the best record in baseball (35-17) despite losing Manny, and are even hotter than the Padres at home (18-5). Luckily the Phils aren’t slouches themselves on the road with the best road record in baseball (16-6). After visiting the left side of American they come back East to take on the division rival Mets in New York, who are currently only a half game back in the NL East standings (28-21). Needless to say these 10 games will tell us a lot about the 1st place Phillies; like are they for real. Beating up on the Nationals is easy, everyone does it, but taking on the Dodgers and Mets is a serious task, and if they come out on top I’ll be highly impressed.

Tonight:Joe Blanton (3-3, 6.14 ERA) looks to build upon his last outing in which he fanned a career high 11 over 7 shutout innings. He’ll be opposed by Kevin Correia (1-3, 5.11 ERA).

Peavy Preview:Amaro has come forth and said the Phils are in the market for a frontline starter, which leads to speculation that he may be targeting Jake Peavy. Peavy just happens to be starting for the Padres Tuesday night, so Rube will get a firsthand look at what he hopes to insert into the Phils rotation in the near future.

4 comments:

From MLBTR:SI.com's Jon Heyman spoke with Ruben Amaro Jr. and heard that the Phillies GM is after "depth at the top of the rotation." Here are the specifics of Heyman's analysis:

* The Phillies want a "more established" player than Antonio Bastardo to replace the injured Brett Myers. * Amaro admits that swinging a deal is "tough to do" even with expendable young players like John Mayberry Jr., Lou Marson, Carlos Carrasco and Jason Donald. * Jake Peavy remains a logical fit, but there's no indication he'd accept a deal to Philly. * Erik Bedard, at $7.75MM this year, fits within the Phillies' budget. * Heyman agrees with Buster Olney: there's no guarantee Roy Oswalt will be dealt, but he would interest the Phillies. * Cliff Lee hasn't hit the market and Blue Jays people maintain that Roy Halladay isn't available, but Amaro isn't shying away from any top pitchers that become available. He says he wants "the best [he] can get." It appears that Brad Penny would not be enough for Philadelphia. * Chris Young and Aaron Harang are names to watch out for, as they could become available.

As it should be, Chase Utley and Raul Ibanez are currently voted into the All-Star game. Of course there's still about a month of voting left, but it's good to know each of them are being recognized for jobs well done.